Sentences
She could hear them outside.
"Too dangerous."
"Her mother's in tears."
"Unpredictable."
"Only a matter of time."
She tested the leather bonds that held her. The bear could break them. But she knew where that path led. They would come after her with spears. Again.
A new voice. Deeper, calmer; not a troll. She stilled herself, listening.
"Take her away... protect her... teach her..."
Hell no!
Shapeshift! Bear first, to tear out of the bonds and shatter the door. Cat for the first leap. Stag for spee...
Sudden magic, a shock through her body. It was not the stag that hit the ground, but the troll.
She rolled in the dirt, tried again, but the shift failed. Weaponless, she whirled to face her enemy - a Tauren, dressed in feathers. Didn't matter, she wouldn't let him take her.
His calming words were unheard, just as her fists were unfelt.
Magic poured into her. She fought it, but the rage drained away. The cat inside her howled in fear... then was silenced. Her legs weakened; she felt the impact on her knees. Her mind crystallized and clouded at the same time. These words she heard:
"The Circle will keep her safe."
Darkness.
Light!
A bed. Cold air, new smells. Not the Echo Isles. She tried to rise, tried to shift, but could not.
They had drugged her. They hoped to keep her down long enough to appeal to her logic, patience, and calm. They knew nothing!
The door opened. The Tauren sat. No words, just presence. Waited.
And waited.
Finally she opened her mouth to spit curses at him, but he spoke first.
"Why?"
She paused. Glared. Didn't answer.
Again. "Why?"
Angered, she growled back, "Nobody understands! Nobody cares!"
"If I told you that we do understand, that we do care, would you believe me?"
"Nobody else ever did!"
"You're afraid that we're going to try and teach you to control your anger, to tamp it down and bottle it up, to pretend it isn't there, so that you fit better into a nice, polite, ordered society."
Years of memories, flowing as tears, provided her answer.
The Tauren's eyes flashed into vertical slits, and his voice deepened into a growl of barely-repressed rage. "Then you're right. They didn't have a damned clue!"
Suddenly she could move again.
"Get up," the Tauren growled as he rose. "Let me show you how feral druids use their anger."
There was a moment of choice, when the door opened. She could run away to live life on her own terms, or stay and see what these people had to offer.
Outside the hut lay a cool, green forest. "Welcome to Moonglade," the Tauren gestured expansively. "Here, all druids are welcomed by the Cenarion Circle."
She stayed.